Monday, September 10, 2012

I Don't Look Like A Korean, And The Kids Have Noticed.

I have two stories.

#1

We've just finished up our first book series in Elegance Class. They've been studying English for a whole year! (And just listen to how much they've grown!)

In the spirit of nostalgia, I asked them if they could remember their first days at SLP (our school). Back in September 2011, I was really, really hoping that one day they'd have the language they needed to express their feelings of that day, because I was so curious about what was going through their heads. Lucky for me, they can now make well-formed sentences and we've all gotten really good at using hand motions to fill in the rest.

Most of them told me they were scared at the beginning, but then the next day wasn't so bad. Min-Sun is our newest student. She arrived only 2 months ago from San Diego where she lived for a few years. She told me that she was nervous when she saw Bridget Teacher, but she was scared when she saw me.

"Really? Min-Sun, why were you scared of me?"

"Because your eyes are so big!"

"But Min-Sun, don't some people have big eyes in San Diego?"

"Yes, but your eyes are bigger than the whole world!"

#2

The 8 girls of Incredible Class are very touchy and lovey. They will crawl all over you if you let them. I was letting them crawl at the beginning of class while we were getting settled in and cleaned up.

Judy started to pay more attention to the arm she was petting. She pointed out, "Lindsay Teacher, you have feathers on your arm."

"No, Judy, that's hair on my arm."

Another girl piped in, "Yeah, Judy. People don't have feathers."

And then I proceeded to tell them how most people from Korea don't have much hair on their arms, but my great-great-great-great grandfathers came from Europe and America, so ...I'm different.

If these girls ever step foot in a melting pot such as America, they are gonna have a blast looking at all the different bodies.